As some of you may know, I'm trying to finish my PhD thesis. It is going slowly but I am making progress towards the end. One problem that I am encountering is that I keep running out of money to fund the writing up period, so I am job hunting at the moment.

So does anyone have any ideas about the type of jobs I should be looking for or the employers who will hire people in my position?

I need something with sociable, part-time hours (c. 25-50% full-time), preferably a few whole days per week, rather than several mornings or afternoons per week. Something that won't leave me exhausted on my days off, and as little stress as possible. Also, an employer who will understand that unless a position was immediately relevant to my long-term plans, I won't want to be in the post until retirement.

To give you some idea: I'm a graduate Chemist with a strong interest in computers. I have reasonable Windows and Linux skills on desktops, good hardware skills (trouble-shooting, fault-finding, repairing, upgrading, system building), basic network skills (good enough for my home network) and basic web skills (hand coding HTML and CSS). Additionally, I have a flair for electronics, operating A/V set-ups and getting peripheral devices (printers and scanners) to behave. However, I'm prepared to consider almost any work, no matter how junior or unrelated to Chemistry/IT, just to get the readies in.

The Olympics is a bind as they are in London, so from Cambridge, it would be a logistical challenge. Also costly to get to, given the rate of pay I could expect.

I'm not adverse to public transport, but Ticket Inspectors face the real prospect of abuse here in Britain and are being replaced by barriers on my local line. I'll have a look at station staff. However, employers are so adverse to taking people on who may not be in post for years. This is a real problem I face. Tutoring is good, but not in season right now. I'll look at a paper round too, thanks.

There have been a spate of part-time Computer Officer/IT Technician jobs going at a university in my county and I've been going for them. I've been getting the interviews, too, but I still haven't landed one. Excellent feedback from them, though. In one case it was down to just a very competitive field. So hence I'm asking here about anything with an IT slant.

I wish you luck on your search; funding my thesis writing was a challenge, although not as great a one as finding a full-time post afterwards - you'll find that quite a lot of jobs take one look at a PhD on a CV and state, "Overqualified" - and what you aren't overqualified for the competition is fierce, as you've discovered...

I'd be tempted to suggest finding a part-time role as barstaff somewhere as how pleasant that job is depends wholely on what your local pub is like.